Father God, your humble servant, a youth of Nigeria,
Africa’s most populous and arguably most gifted black nation come to you this
day on my knees and totally humbled. I
come trembling, confused and fearful – yes father really fearful – as I think
of my beloved country which recently reached a landmark age, golden jubilee it
is called. I come knowing that you can do everything and no counsel of
yours can be withheld from you’’.
It is clear to me that the counsel of your heart for
Nigeria was aptly captured in the speeches and utterances of our founding
fathers, heroes past and friends when Nigeria was born nearly 52 years ago - as
an independent nation. These were men
and women whom you put your Spirit into at the time, to prophesy concerning the
child just born into the world, I mean into the comity of sovereign and free
nations. Permit me to say Lord God that they were your prophets. They were your prophets because they spoke
(prophesied) of a great and prosperous child-Nigeria, a nation capable of
rising to the status of or even above such great nations as America. They spoke of a nation which, considering its
enormous latent and visible resources, (human, natural, rich diversity, etc),
will in no time begin to run and then go on to set great records in the world
stage. Such records were to include: a
just and egalitarian nation; a nation whose landscape is decorated with choice
and enviable infrastructure – educational, social, etc; a nation of imposing
industries, providing more jobs than her well educated and trained citizenry
could fill; a nation of men and women who will always recognize that there is
dignity in labour – honest, hardworking, incorruptible people.
Father, this popular saying has it that ‘‘life begins
at 40’’. In the case of my beloved
country, child-Nigeria, she turned 40 years ago, but is yet to begin life. I say so because at nearly 52 years, none of
the prophesies about her have come to concrete fulfilment and as a youth of
this country, this is really disheartening, to say the least. Father, You and I know that the
non-fulfilment of these prophesies are not because they were false or that you
have withdrawn your authority on them, far from this. The truth is that the men
and women who over the years have received/handed down the baton of leadership
from our founding fathers have failed us woefully.
Mighty God, I remember the stories and profiles of our
founding fathers. My late father (who
died battered and disenchanted by the Nigerian system in my early university
days), told me a lot of the stories and I corroborated most of what he told me
from what I read in print. They were
selfless men and women, true statesmen, visionaries, leaders out to imprint
their names in the sands of history.
They were people whose words and lives inspired awe, patriotism and hard
work. They offered themselves to
serve. They got into the struggle for a
sovereign nation, inspired by the spirit of service and because they believed
in the Nigerian cause. They were not
opportunists, looters, liars, greedy and corrupt men and women. They had their weaknesses, yes, but their
spirit of service far outweighed whatever weaknesses they had. I do not lose sight of the fact that they
were mortals.
Father God, I do not wish to bother you with the many
things that dishearten and make me tremble about my country Nigeria. I will
break down enumerating the details.
During our Golden Jubilee Celebrations, I listened to men and women at
different fora speak and enumerate the various reasons for our woes. They also tried hard to proffer a way forward
for my beloved country. They believed
(and spoke out), that we have not lost it all and that we have another 50 years
to get restored. As I listened, I cried
and the same time rejoiced. Yes, I rejoiced because I realized all hope is not
lost, not with the country brimming with such fine and articulate minds, such
as I listened to. Yes father, there is
hope because I sense the crystallization of thoughts and deliberate choices of
good people in Nigeria – hearts and choices saying one thing, we can rise up
from today and possess it. And I know that you are ever willing to order and
prosper our good collective choices.
And so FATHER GOD, I pray you today to please help
Nigeria to truly begin life as we set our sights on the so much talked about
year 2020, when we would have added another decade to our existence – clocking
60 years. You waited for us to begin earlier, but we
were not ready. You encouraged us when
we turned 40, but again we were not ready. We have passed the landmark
age of 50 years, we are 52 in few months from now and it is still
doubtful - yes doubtful to me - if we are ready to start life. LORD GOD,
the tunes have suddenly changed and I fear for the worst. We are no longer just
grappling with the heavy burden of corruption, failed leadership, decaying
institutions and systems- including a near moribund educational system and the
like; it is now the heavier burden of terrorism - brothers killing brothers
with reckless abandon as a way of making their points, expressing their
grievances or enforcing what they want- whatever these means. What was
never imagined by our founding fathers - your prophets of old has suddenly
crept in upon us and is threatening to blow us and our oneness to shreds - so
it appears to me LORD.
Questions are being raised all around, most bordering
on our oneness as a sovereign, united nation - with peoples of
different/distinct cultures and cleavages. Should the different cleavages
go their separate ways? Should they remain one or may be enter into some
kind of arrangement that still portrays oneness? LORD GOD, the questions
are as myriad as they are fearful - yes, really fearful.
In all these LORD, I choose to believe that 2020 will
come upon us and so I pray; help us to begin to live. I can hear the
resounding response of the youth of Nigeria, my generation, saying Amen.
I know they are also following recent developments. Fear, doubt, despondency,
etc. are also welling up in their minds. Nevertheless, I know they want
their country to begin living and so I pray. Help us to begin to walk
right, obeying the laws of our country and your Holy laws. During elections, may we be ready to make our
votes count, to probe deeply before we cast our votes. Help us to reject the use of
mundane things and empty promises to fool us, impose mediocrities upon us
and further mortgage our future and those of our children. It is easy to
decipher empty promises because the pedigree and antecedents of those making such
are well known by us. Yes, these are
well known unless we pretend and chose to remain fools. But father, may you not allow us to. We are
ready to hold accountable those that we vote, (yes I mean vote because our
votes must count), or those appointed into positions of authority, to help us
steward our country’s resources – your good gifts to us.
May we no longer take the position of indifference and
just allow people we put in positions to do what they want. No, never
again. May we resolve never to be found
wanting again in the discharge of our civic responsibilities first to Nigeria,
but beginning from our families and local communities. May we resolve to engage at all times, in
honest job and living, knowing that our labours will never go unrewarded. May we resolve that come the year 2020, when
we celebrate our 60 years of nationhood, we shall be busy reflecting
on how great we have lived life. We shall also be rigorously
strategizing on how to consolidate on our great achievements as a united
sovereign nation.
LORD, may it be that in 2020, we will be telling the
stories of present happenings - especially terrorism - and how we overcame
as a people with your help and mercies. I have read stories of countries
that passed through near crippling internal developments - may be close to or
even worse than ours - and yet overcame.
And so LORD, my eyes are on 2020 and I know it s
possible with you. Thank you Lord. Amen.
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